New Delhi: To make India a Drone manufacturing hub in the next eight-to-ten years, the government on Wednesday announced the names of 14 Drone manufacturing companies that will receive benefits under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for Drone and Drone components manufacturers. In the first list of beneficiaries, there are five Drone manufacturers and nine Drone component manufacturers. Applications have been invited on March 10 and the deadline ended on March 31.
The list of beneficiaries is likely to be expanded further since some manufacturers are likely to exceed the eligibility criteria for the financial year 2021-22. The final list of PLI beneficiaries is expected to be released by June 30 after detailed scrutiny of their financial results and other specified documents. Following are the five Drone manufacturers, which have been selected under the drone PLI scheme Dhaksha Unmanned Systems from Chennai of Tamil Nadu, Ideaforge Technology from Mumbai of Maharashtra, Gurugram-based TechWorld Avigation and Omnipresent Robot Technologies and Raphe Mphibr based in Noida from Uttar Pradesh.
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The government also shortlisted nine Drone components manufacturers--Paras Aerospace, Absolute Composites and Alpha Design Technologies, SASMOS HET Technologies and ZMotion Autonomous Systems-based in Bengaluru in Karnataka, Adani-Elbit Advanced Systems-based in Hyderabad in Telangana, Adroitec Information Systems from New Delhi, Zuppa Geo Navigation Technologies in Chennai of Tamil Nadu and Inventgrid India-based in Sambalpur of Odisha--the criteria for the PLI scheme for Drones and Drone components include an annual sales turnover of Rs 2 crore for Drone Companies and Rs 50 lakh for Drone components manufacturers and value addition of over 40% of sales turnover.
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PLI for the Drone manufacturing sector
The PLI scheme for Drones and Drone components was notified on September 30, 2021. Under the scheme, a total incentive of Rs 120 crore is spread over the three financial years, which is nearly double the combined turnover of all domestic Drone manufacturers in FY 2020-21. Under the scheme, the PLI rate is 20% of the value-added, which is one of the highest among other PLI schemes. A manufacturer, who fails to meet the value addition threshold in 2021-22, will be allowed to claim the lost incentive in the subsequent year if they make up the shortfall in 2022-23.
Reforming the Drone sector
In addition to the production linked scheme, the government has carried out a series of reforms to make India a global Drone hub by 2030. These include liberalised Drone Rules of 2021, publishing of Drone Airspace Map 2021, which opens nearly 90% of Indian airspace as a green zone up to the height of 400 feet, UAS Traffic Management (UTM) policy framework 2021 and a Drone Certification Scheme, which was launched in 2022. The scheme makes it easier for Drone manufacturers to obtain a type certificate, Drone Import Policy, 2022, which bans the import of foreign-made Drones and the Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 which abolished the requirement of a Drone pilot licence for Drone operations.
